On Monday, the mug shot and arrest footage of a 10-year-old boy accused of threatening to shoot up his school were released by Florida authorities.
“I did a campaign: fake threat, real consequence,” said Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno. “While I understand the boy is 10 years old, his brain’s not fully developed; he’s a juvenile. I have to tell you: When a 10-year-old presses a trigger, the aftermath is the same regardless of the age.”
Daniel Issac Marquez, a fifth-grader at Patriot Elementary School in Cape Coral, was arrested Saturday for the alleged text-message threat on May 28.
Marceno told W Radio that Daniel told a friend in a text message that he had “wads of cash” and that they should “get ready” for him to carry out the mass shooting.
According to the arrest report, Daniel sent a text message that said, “I scammed my friend,” which included a Google image of money.
Authorities say that Daniel also sent his friend an image of four assault rifles that he said he had purchased and encouraged him to “get ready for water day,” a school event in which students partake in water activities.
“We don’t wait 1 second,” Marceno said. “We investigate every threat as if it’s real.”
“We have zero tolerance,” he said. “Our children are going to be safe no matter what.”
“So, what we need to do is, I beg the parents to sit with your children … We need to do everything we can as a team to prevent these types of issues and not ignore the red flags.”
According to Marceno, the boy was charged as a juvenile with making a written threat to commit a mass shooting.
Marceno addressed his department’s response to a potential school shooter later in the statement.
“You don’t get to come into one of my schools in my county and present deadly force,” Marceno said.
“Because we meet deadly force with deadly force, without one second, without hesitation. If you think you’re going to come and kill a child, a teacher, or a faculty member, think again — we will kill you immediately.”
